The outside celebrity, the bigtime speaker, the passion-stirring author is not your pastor. These teachers can be a gift from God, and I do not want to have you ignore them. But you must realize that these folks do not know you and cannot care for your soul. You are not their responsibility before God. 

When were you last star-struck? Perhaps you were in a place where a celebrity showed up. Perhaps you stood on a plot of ground where an important historical figure once stood. Perhaps you met one of your heroes.
I’ve had a few star-struck moments. Once, I had the privilege of meeting the greatest St. Louis Cardinal of all time, Stan Musial. Once, I held in my hands a piece of history, a Tyndale New Testament that was printed around 1526; so, yes, I was star-struck by a book. As a child I was star-struck when I met “Leaping:” Lanny Poffo, brother to the “Macho Man” Randy Savage—If that one does not impress you, I truly do not know what will.
People, places, and even objects can leave us wide-eyed and giddy. And, in general, I do not think that’s all bad. But I wonder if we realize that there is a danger when it happens to us in the church. Have you ever thought of the danger of Christian celebrity?
Just as I was star-struck when Stan “the Man” signed a ball for me, or when Brett “the Hit Man” Heart gave me a high 5—OK, now I’m just name-dropping—I have also found myself feeling the wonder of celebrity in Christian conferences or events. I know what it is like to feel a rush when hearing someone speak who I know wrote one of my favorite books or whose sermons I have only heard on podcasts. And I wonder just how good or bad such a thing is.
On the one hand, God is clear in his holy word that we are to rightly, in the church, honor faithful servants of God.
So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.Philippians 2:29–30
When Paul wrote to the Philippians about Epaphroditus, the apostle commended the man’s faithfulness and self-sacrifice. Paul wanted the Philippian Christians to honor Epaphroditus and others like him who were willing to give their lives to the service of the Lord. So, there is most certainly a rightness to us honoring faithful ministers, authors, speakers, and missionaries through whose ministries the Lord has blessed our souls and the church at large. There is a rightness to a local church loving a faithful pastor, a long-serving deacon, or a godly woman who has served the church with a true heart and self-sacrificial zeal.
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In our church-shopping, individualistic culture, we would be wise to take into consideration the warnings in Scripture against only doing what is right in our own eyes. There is great wisdom in learning from the spiritual giants of the past who wrestled down important theological issues far better than we are likely to do today.

Ever notice that we have become a nation of consumers? We love restaurants with giant menus that offer burgers and tacos, sushi and pasta, sandwiches and steaks. And we want that restaurant to be happy to reconfigure anything at our request without complaint. We want our phones to make musical playlists that play only the songs we thumbs-up and never expose us to the unfamiliar. We have come to expect that we have the right to only experience what we like.
This is also true in the church. We want a church that plays the music we like in the way that we like. We want a fellowship that is made up of people who look like us and have our same hobbies. We even want to b able to pick and choose which parts of the church’s doctrine we hold to and which we ignore.
There is a phrase in Scripture that has my attention: “right in his own eyes.” When you read that phrase, you probably think of the end of the book of Judges, though I recently ran across it in Deuteronomy.
You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes…—Deuteronomy 12:8 (See also Judges 17:6; 21:25; and Proverbs 12:15; 16:2; 21:2; 26:5; 26:12; 26:16; 28:11.)
As the Lord led his people, he repeatedly spoke of people doing what was right in their own, individual eyes. And every single time God talks about it, God condemns it—every time. In Deuteronomy and in Judges, the thought is that the nation was not to determine its worship or its morality by their own personal opinions. Instead, the people were to submit to the Lord’s word. In Proverbs, the common thread is that a man who is wise in his own eyes, a man who will not learn from others or receive counsel from others, is actually a fool.
Think well, dear Christian friend, about how well you receive counsel and wisdom from others. When you think of your theology, as an example, to whom do you submit? Are you picking and choosing doctrines based on your wisdom alone? Or are your thoughts actually shaped by the wisdom of others who have gone before you?
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One’s heavenly citizenship is far more important than the experience of the greatest of miracles on earth. Do you see how this might help the joyful or the discouraged minister of the gospel? Do you see how this might help the passionate church volunteer in seasons of success and failure? It can.

Are you a worker in your church? Are you a volunteer? Are you a pastor? Are you one of those who gives his or her all for the sake of the gospel and the love of the Lord and his people?
If you are one who sees the importance of the glory of God in his church, I would guess that you are also one who knows what it feels like to experience some pretty sweet joys and some pretty significant pains. Ministry can be great. Ministry can be hard. Being a pastor can be so very sweet. Being a pastor can be so very discouraging.
Reading Luke 10, I find a couple of thoughts that I believe will help those of us who serve to deal with the joy and the despair of ministry. These words remind us not to fly too high when we experience success. They also help us not to crash and burn when things are not as we want them to be.
As Jesus instructed 72 followers before sending them out on mission, the Lord told them how to react when a town either received them and their message or rejected them and the message.
Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.”Luke 10:8-11
What do you notice about those instructions? What changes and what does not? Whether there is joy or sadness, celebration or condemnation, one message remains the same—the kingdom of God has come near. Whether the people in a town love this fact or hate it, the kingdom of God is still the kingdom of God.
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